Monday, August 16, 2010

Eclectic Embellished Envelope Book for Ephemera

I'm so happy, the alphabet swap is continuing on another one of my groups. This time: the letter "E". I was inspired by an elegant Envelope book from Margaret I received a year ago. It's one of my favorite swaps.
My style, however, is not elegant - more grungy, so my creation will look very different than the one I have & adore. Created an Envelope book for this swap with my eclectic collection of papers I have made. Some are from the classes I took at last year at the Midnight Art Ranch, some are paste paper I made many years ago and one is a recycled paper grocery bag, misted, crumpled and acrylic paints sponged on.
Choose eight papers to be the outside of the envelopes and cut down to size. For the papers that were one sided, I adhered another sheet of my home made papers to the inside.
For the covers, I used the Squishy Book pages I made last autumn. Stamped with black Stazon ink. Adhered the Hardware piece I made last week and added fibers, a stamped bronze charm and a large key:

To tie the eclectic papers together, sponged on white acrylic paint over sequin waste and stamped images with black Stazon ink. Envelope edges were sewn with black embroidery stitches. I love alliteration and got the "e" stuck in my head, so my envelope themes, became "e" inspired. Used an eclectic assortment of embellishments to enhance each envelope. Hope you enjoy the slide show.


Some notes:

Embellishments on Egyptian envelope are Faux Dichroic glass similar to this.

Embellishment on Elegant envelope is grungy quilled flower.

Embellishment on Enigma envelope is a Brocade Polymer Clay star .

Lower embellishment on End envelope is a piece I made out of watch parts and a rhinestone.

Added an eclectic assortment of ephemera into each envelope page. Hope my swap partner is enthralled with this creation!

9 comments:

Gaby Bee said...

Your envelope book is absolutely stunning, Carol! You always make such beautiful things. I love all the wonderful embellishments you used and the way you blend it all together!
Brilliant!

Chris in Oz said...

WOW!!! Gorgeous work, Carol.

Hugz......

chrissy said...

OMG!!!! Spectacular and over the top!!!
chrissy

Fiona said...

Wow Rachel, what a lot of beautiful art you've posted up recently. I love it all.
Fiona

WendyK said...

What a wonderful book, very inspiring, and colourful. It might make me join the swap in the vane hope of getting your great piece of work.

Rena Sawatski said...

Gorgeous Carol. Since i am a background junkie love all of the papers you used. I am still thinking about what to do for this swap.

dining room table said...

This is so surprising. You are getting better and better Carol. I think this is one of your best art work ever made. Congratulations for this well done job.

Adrienne Wood said...

What a fabulous project, and beautifully done (of course).

Gorgeous, and makes me wish I'd joined the swap!

Cat Stegall said...

WOW what creative,artisitc work..hope I am your partner! I am still in the creative process for mine~ Hugs Cathee s